SEOUL, South Korea (AP)-North Korea on Thursday imposed a nationwide shutdown to control its first recognized outbreak of COVID-19 in more than two years over dubious claims that it protects against the virus. which is prevalent in most people. A place in the world.
The outbreak forced leader Kim Jong Un to wear a mask in public, perhaps for the first time since the pandemic began, but the extent of the transmission within North Korea was not immediately known. Slowing infections could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health system and its 26 million people are estimated not to have been vaccinated. Some experts say North Korea, with extraordinary recognition, may seek outside help.
The official Korean central news agency said that samples collected from an unknown number of people with fever in the capital, Pyongyang on Sunday confirmed they were infected with the Omicron variant.
In response, Kim called for the complete closure of cities and districts at a meeting of the ruling party’s politburo, saying jobs should be separated into units to prevent the spread of the virus. He called on health care workers to strengthen disinfection efforts in workplaces and homes and mobilize backup medical supplies.
Kim said it is important to control transmissions and eliminate the source of infection as soon as possible, while alleviating the inconvenience caused by the public by controlling the virus. He insisted that the country overcome the epidemic because the government and its people were “united”.
Despite the increased response to the virus, Kim instructed officials to continue the planned construction, agricultural development and other state projects, while strengthening the country’s defense position to prevent any security vacuum.
North Korean state television showed Kim and other high -ranking officials wearing masks as they entered the meeting room, although Kim removed the mask to speak into microphones. Photos released by the KNCA show Kim unmasked and sitting at a table where all the other officers were left in disguise.
The South Korean Unification Ministry, which oversees Korean affairs, could not confirm whether this is the first time the state media has shown Kim wearing a mask since the pandemic began. Kim has already spoken to many people without a mask, as she praised the country’s past reaction to the pandemic and her decision to see her masked may be aimed at raising public awareness.
North Korea, which has maintained strict antivirus checks on its borders for more than two years, did not provide further details on its recent closure. But an Associated Press photographer on the South Korean border saw dozens of people working on farms or on sidewalks in the North Korean border town, an indication that the lockdown does not require people to stay. at home, or it will free up agricultural work.
The measures described by the state media and Kim’s statement that economic targets have not yet been met may indicate that North Korea is increasingly focusing on travel and supply restrictions between the regions, the analyst Cheong Seong. chang of the Sejong Institute in South Korea.
The North Korean government is avoiding vaccines offered by the UN-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because they have international surveillance requirements.
The Seoul Unification Ministry said South Korea was ready to provide medical and other assistance to North Korea for humanitarian reasons. Relations between Koreans have deteriorated since 2019 amid a stalemate in nuclear talks and amid growing provocative North American weapons trials.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told Beijing that Beijing was offering to help North Korea deal with the outbreak. North Korea has reportedly rejected a previous Chinese offer of domestically developed vaccines.
Kim Sin-gon, a professor at Seoul Korea University’s College of Medicine, said North Korea is likely to confirm its willingness to receive external vaccines, but wants more doses than COVAX offers to multiply the whole population. . He said North Korea also wants to send COVID-19 drugs and medical equipment banned by UN sanctions.
Omicron is more easily spread than earlier versions of the coronavirus, and its mortality and hospitalization rate is high in unvaccinated seniors or those with current health problems. This means an epidemic could lead to a “serious situation” because North Korea does not have medical equipment and drugs to treat the virus and many of its inhabitants are not very edible, Kim Sin-gon said.
Ahn Kyung-sum, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website dedicated to health issues in North Korea, said North Korea’s access to the outbreak was likely designed to force more people to protect their itself from the virus than China, with long, porous. The northern border has closed many of its cities due to virus problems.
North Korea is likely to emphasize lock-in, although China’s “Zero-COVID” policy suggests the strategy doesn’t work against the fast-emerging Omicron variant, said Leif-Eric Islam, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
“For the Pyongyang public to recognize the Omicron cases, public health must be taken seriously,” Izli said. “This does not mean that North Korea will suddenly open up to humanitarian aid and negotiate with Washington and Seoul. But the internal public of the Kim regime may be less interested in nuclear or missile tests when the threat of an emergency involves a coronavirus. and not the foreign military. “
North Korea’s earlier claim of having no corovirus has been disputed by many foreign experts. But South Korean officials say North Korea has likely avoided the massive disease, in part because it has imposed strict controls on the virus since the pandemic began.
In early 2020, before the coronavirus spread around the world, North Korea took drastic steps to keep the virus afloat, calling it a “matter of national existence.” All of this disrupted cross-border traffic and trade for two years and, it was suggested, ordered troops to shoot all violators who crossed its borders.
The severe border closures have further disrupted an economy already plagued by decades of mismanagement and sanctions imposed by the United States on its nuclear weapons and missile program, pushing Kim through the most difficult period of his government. since he climbed to the top. 2011.
North Korea is one of the last places in the world not to recognize COVID-19 cases since the virus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in China in late 2019, which has spread to all continents, including. Antarctica. Turkmenistan A similar secretive and authoritarian country in Central Asia, the World Health Organization has not reported any cases, although its claim has been highly questioned by outside experts.
In recent months, outbreaks have been reported on several Pacific islands that keep the virus in geographic isolation. Only small Tuvalu, with a population of approximately 12,000, survived the virus, while several other countries – Nauru, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands – stopped incidents on their borders and prevented the community from spreading. .
The bombing came in North Korea as China, its closest ally and trading partner, was fighting the biggest outbreak of a pandemic.
In January, North Korea opened rail freight traffic for the first time in two years between its border town of Xinjiang and China’s Dandong, but China suspended trade last month due to expansion with China. Liaoning province, which borders North Korea.
Associated Press reporters Lee Jin-man contributed to the report in Pajhwok, South Korea, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, and Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand.
Source: Huffpost
